In many cases, the president of the company either is the sales force or they play sales manager along with the rest their responsibilities. If you see yourself in this position it?s a tough role, however there are a few things I would recommend you can do to ensure you don?t experience the ?waves of sales,? that brings swings of large months of revenue one month and drought the next. I the recommendations below help teach you to build predictable revenue.
After managing sales teams and consulting on sales leadership for 20+ years I have experienced many situations; fast growth, turnarounds, recessions and business transitions. However there are a few fundamentals that can be executed to improve sales in any situation. I have created a short list of my recommended sales management actions for you to evaluate against your current situation.
Sales management is the lynch pin or weak link in any organization. Great sales leaders execute on the following:
1. Actually write down a marketing plan. It should include at least two activities per month for a rolling six months and then execute it.
2. If you have a sales team, spend one hour each quarter, scheduling dates/times for your sales training meetings. These should include: sales skills, product/service training, and company operation, then assign each salesperson the responsibility to perform the training. Read two sales training books a year.
3. Find a partner. No matter what size firm you have, find what I call a business eco-system partner-another business that sells a non-competitive, but related product/service into the market segment you serve. Create joint marketing plans, cross train your sales teams and seek ways to leverage your customer base.
4. Display, visibly, the top ten sales opportunities. Keep your eyes and mind focused on sales. Put a sign up: What can I do today-to sell something?
5. Recruit for salespeople all the time. Remember the best salesperson might not be looking for a job when you decide to hire. Recruiting is your marketing plan for growth. You should be advertising every 60 days, whether you are hiring no not. (BTW: do not place your listings in the help wanted section)
6. Find your recipe. As a person that owns 150 cook books I believe there is a prescriptive approach to building a business. Analyze the following: How many proposals/quotes per month/week do you generate to the number of orders you receive? What is the timeline between them? What sales activity must a salesperson do to eventually generate a proposal? What other sales activities will lead to success? Measure these and then graph them against your sales curve.
7. Know your A, B, C?s. Generally 20% of your profits come from 65% of your clients, these are the A customers. The B?s make up 20% and generates 20% of your profits. That means 40% of your clients create 85% of your business. Analyze these two segments; determine what five common characteristics they share, i.e. revenue size? number of employees? type of business? Etc. Then only market and focus your sales on those kinds of organizations.
8. Use public relations. Nurture your local business writers, editors for magazines, newsletters and industry websites. Just like this blog, build awareness of your organization and services.
9. Build a network. Meet at least one person a week that can improve your market position, introduce you to other prospects or teach you something. Join a peer group and improve your overall business acumen.
10. This one up to you. You know your business. What are your thoughts and best recommendations?
This list is short, but if you build a balanced plan that addresses these fundamentals and execute on these, you will begin to accelerate your business and find revenue growth will be smooth sailing.
Review each recommendation and let me know what topics you would like me to cover in greater detail in future blogs by email or in the comments below.
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